Do you need to go to college to acquire the knowledge to become an investigative journalist?

No you need a time machine to go back to when investigative journalism was something you could pursue as a career.

>>24548538 (OP)
You need to have top connections to LE and informants/sources that will dish the dirt or finer unknown details

Knowing the right people is way more important than anything else. News is all about having access to information before it goes public. The more connections you have in news-worthy places like government offices, major companies, etc, the more likely you can be the first person to publish a story about something before the public at large is aware of it.

For investigative journalism, being first to break a story isn't as important as being the definitive version of the story due to immensely thorough fact-finding and interviewing of all persons involved. This also depends heavily on having connections who can open doors for you and get you in front of the people you need to talk to.

If you're doing a more historical piece, then maybe some kind of academic background in scholarly research might be helpful, but most investigative journalism is going to be of the sort where human connections are preeminent.

>>24548538 (OP)
By the time you finish I don't think that will be a job.

>>24548538 (OP)
It’s not so much “college” but the right college. An investigative journalist is all about his contacts, and you form those in school. When you’re in the ivy leagues you will be able to form connections with future people working in the national bureaucracies. So….yeah, sorry.